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Božena Šinková ExELTC, Year 1, MA course Maxims of Politeness The Generosity Maxim, The Approbation Maxim, The Modesty Maxim INTRODUCTION „Be polite!“ „ Say please and thank you!“ We have all heard these well intented instructions from our parents, grandparents and teachers. Moreover, this is what most people understand under the term „politeness“. In general, people view politeness as a necessary tool to achieve their goals, to get what they want. When we submit our requests in a polite manner we expect to have our wishes granted. However, in linguistics the term politeness does not completely overlap with this concept of politeness viewed by majority of people as etiquette or a set of norms expected to be adhered to within a social interaction. In this paper I would like to briefly introduce politeness from the point of view of linguistics. I will also, in greater detail, discuss the generosity maxim, the approbation maxim and the modesty maxim – the maxims of politeness as defined by Leech.

Maxims of Politeness Essay

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Page 1: Maxims of Politeness Essay

Božena Šinková ExELTC, Year 1, MA course

Maxims of Politeness

The Generosity Maxim, The Approbation Maxim, The Modesty

Maxim

INTRODUCTION

„Be polite!“ „ Say please and thank you!“ We have all heard these well intented instructions

from our parents, grandparents and teachers. Moreover, this is what most people understand

under the term „politeness“. In general, people view politeness as a necessary tool to achieve

their goals, to get what they want. When we submit our requests in a polite manner we expect

to have our wishes granted. However, in linguistics the term politeness does not completely

overlap with this concept of politeness viewed by majority of people as etiquette or a set of

norms expected to be adhered to within a social interaction. In this paper I would like to

briefly introduce politeness from the point of view of linguistics. I will also, in greater detail,

discuss the generosity maxim, the approbation maxim and the modesty maxim – the maxims

of politeness as defined by Leech.

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC CONCEPTS

Face/Face Threatening Acts

Before proceeding to defining the terms politeness and its maxims, it is important to clarify

the notion of face and face threatening acts, as these will be most likely included in the

definitons of linguistic politeness no matter how many definitions from various sources we

would provide.

The term face is in liguistics used to refer to the way how people perceive themselves and

how they want others to see them. Yule offers the following definition: „Face means the

public self-image of a person. It refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone

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has and expects everyone else to recognize.“ (Yule, G., 1996, pg. 60) Each person has

a positive and a negative face. A person’s positive face is, as Yule simply explains it, „the

need to be accepted, even liked, by others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and

to know that his or her wants are shared by others.“ (Yule, G., 1996, pg. 60) A person’s

negative face is, basically, a need to be allowed to act freely according to person’s own will

and not to be forced into doing anything, or, as www.teachit.co.uk describes it, the negative

face is „ wanting your actions not to be constrained or inhibited by others“.

(http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/pragmatics.htm#16, 26 April, 2011)

Every social interaction between people carries a certain risk that a person’s face, either

positive or negative, will be threatened by actions which are refered to as face threatening

acts.

Politeness

In linguistics, the term politeness can be understood as „the means employed to show

awareness of another person’s face“. (Yule, G., 1996, pg. 60) Watts, in an attempt to

distinguish the term politeness as approached by linguists from the concept of polite

behaviour generally understood by people refers to it as „linguistic politeness“. (Watts, R.J.,

2003, pg.10) Furthermore, Mills offers the following definition of politeness: „Politeness is

the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face

threatening acts toward another” (Mills, S., 2003, pg. 6)

THE MAXIMS OF POLITENESS

The British professor Geoffrey Leech has analyzed and summarized the different ways of how

people act and what they say in order to keep their interactions within the boundaries of

politeness. He called these principles the maxims of politeness. According to Leech, the

politeness concerns a relationship between two participants, whom he calls self and other.

However, the speakers may refer to and show politeness to the third parties, who may or may

not be taking part in the conversation. Therefore, the term other, as Leech continues, refers to

people designated by the third-person pronouns, too. (Leech, G., 1983, pg. 131)

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Leech specified the following six maxims of politeness:

I. TACT MAXIM (in impositives and commissives): (a) Minimize cost to other; [b)

Maximise benefit to other]

II. GENEROSITY MAXIM (in impositives and commissives): (a) Minimize benefit to

self; [(b) Maximise cost to self]

III. APPROBATION MAXIM (in expressives and assertives): (a) Minimize dispraise of

other; [(b) Maximize praise of other]

IV. MODESTY MAXIM (in expressives and assertives): (a) Minimize praise of self; [(b)

Maximize dispraise of self]

V. AGREEMENT MAXIM (in assetives): (a) Minimize disagreement between self and

other; [(b) Maximise agreement between self and other]

VI. SYMPATHY MAXIM (in assertives): (a) Minimize antipathy between self and

other; [(b) Maximize sympathy between self and other]

(Leech, G., 1983, pg. 132)

The principles (a) and (b) are called the sub-maxims. As Leech suggests, the sub-maxims (a)

are considered more important than the sub-maxims (b), because “negative politeness

(avoidance of discord) is a more weighty consideration than positive politeness (seeking

concord).” (Leech, G., 1983, pg. 133)

Although Leech’s formulations of the maxims of politeness are very specific and

straightforward, it needs to be added that it is not necessary to apply these rigorously in all

speech interactions as sometimes they could collide with other communication aims, e. g. if

we see a child running across the street who cannot see a quickly approaching car, we tend to

eliminate all the maxims of politeness and just simply shout: “STOP!” at the child. Applying

maxims of politeness and producing a sentence such as: I don’t mean to disturb you but would

you mind stopping now? would not serve to the purpose of immediate and urgent warning and

uttering such sentence would just take too long for it to be actual.

According to the essay assignment only the Generosity Maxim, the Approbation Maxim and

the Modesty Maxim will be discussed further and in greater detail together with examples.

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The Generosity Maxim

So what exactly does Leech mean by the “(a) Minimize benefit to self; [(b) Maximise cost to

self]“ definition of the generosity maxim? As the self is the only party appearing in this

definition, we could say that the Generosity Maxim concentrates on the speaker, i.e. self. The

speaker is being generous by offering to do something for someone else selflessly by stressing

the fact that he/she is not expecting to gain anything from this offer (minimizing the benefit)

and that all the work (“the cost”) will be performed by him/her. Understandably, the

Generosity Maxim is not applicable solely in situations when we promise to perform some

kind of activity. “The cost” can also be understood as any situation in which we put others

first.

Examples:

You can have my book if you like.

You go out with your friends and I’ll take care of the children.

I don’t mind doing the gardening for you.

The Approbation Maxim

Leech semi-seriously suggests that this maxim could be also called “the Flattery Maxim” as

its definition: “Minimize dispraise of other; Maximize praise of other“ implies some kind of

exaggeration and highlighting the positive features of other, therefore, it can be said that it is

other orientated. What does it mean in practice? It means that saying “Wasn’t it a fantastic

book I recommended you?” is considered less polite, if not impolite, as according to the

Approbation Maxim it does not maximize praise of other, but is doing the right opposite. It

maximizes praise of self and it puts self in the centre of attention. More importantly, the

Approbation Maxim also suggests that we should refrain from disrespectful and unpleasant

comments about the others. Therefore, a statement “That jumper of yours is hideous.” is

considered to be very impolite, even rude, and it is violating the Approbation Maxim.

The “Minimize dispraise of other” part of definition can also be understood in terms of saying

unpleasant comments in a nicer, softer way. Therefore, by saying “That jumper you are

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wearing looks very interesting.” we can lessen the threat to the addressee’s positive face

without resorting to lies in case we really do not like the jumper.

Although applying the Approbation Maxim in conversations is somehow expected, it should

not be over-used. Constant and even exaggerated praise of other would soon become tedious

and it would sound very unnatural and perhaps insincere.

The Modesty Maxim

As the title of the maxim suggests, application of the Modesty Maxim will require the author

of the utterance, the speaker, to sound unobtrusive and modest, i. e. to “minimize praise of

self; maximize dispraise of self”. Similarly to the Generosity Maxim, the Modesty Maxim is

self orientated. The examples of the Modesty Maxim in practice are obvious and we encounter

them in everyday life:

“Oh, I’m so clumsy! I broke the vase!”

A: Thank you very much. That is so kind of you! B : Not at all. That’s the least I can do.”

There is one interesting aspect of the Modesty Maxim. While exaggerating the

underestimation of self within the second sub-maxim can be commonly observed and it is

considered conventional, breaking the first sub-maxim is considered as boasting. (Leech, G.,

1983, pg. 136) E. g. “I did her a massive favour.” However, similarly to the Approbation

Maxim, over-using the “maximize dispraise of self” aspect of the Modesty Maxim can

become tiring and it would reduce the credibility of the speaker.

CONCLUSION

Adhering to the Maxims of Politeness during social interactions is not obligatory. However, in

every society, it is expected that the participants in conversations will follow some basic rules

of politeness. Until looking closer at the problematic of the Maxims of Politeness, I was not

aware that the various expressions we utter numerous times a day can be classified within the

Maxims of Politeness. Understandably, every language has a different structure of these

principles just as different cultures consider different things to be their politeness standards.

Nevertheless, these principles can easily be adapted into every culture and help to improve the

communication between the people.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

LEECH, G., Principles of Pragmatics, New York, Longman Group Ltd., 1983,

ISBN 0-582-551-10-2

MILLS, S., Gender and Politeness, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003,

ISBN 0-521-810-84-1

WATTS, R. J., Politeness, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-521-

79406-0

YULE, G., Pragmatics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-19-437207-3

Internet Resources

http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/pragmatics.htm#16, 26 April, 2011

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